[E2] Powerful ways to destroy the pull of instant gratification and pursue financial freedom.

<p>If you want something, you can pretty much get it right away.</p><p>And it’s cultivated a sense of instant gratification in every area of our lives...which is dangerous.</p><p>This happens in both big ways and small ways. But at the end of the day, it all comes down to our unwillingness to forgo satisfaction today in order to enjoy something bigger and better tomorrow. </p><p>And when I think about this idea, I can’t help but think about one of my favorite movies as a kid: Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. (The Gene Wilder version)</p><p>And my least favorite character from that move...Veruca Salt.</p><p>If you remember, Veruca Salt is the second Golden Ticket winner. She’s the manipulative brat of a little girl who has rich parents and has been fed with a silver spoon her entire life. And when she gets into the Chocolate Factory, she asks her father to buy here one of Wonka’s golden egg-laying geese. Wonka refuses and Veruca goes into a tirade of a song singing, “I want it now!”</p><p>We do the same thing. When we want something...well...we want it NOW!</p><p>I call this the Veruca Salt Mentality. And it’s especially evident in our financial lives where we’re accustomed to instant gratification.</p><p>The problem is that you can’t instantly build wealth or find financial freedom. And the harder we try to achieve it right away, the further we slide. </p><p>Examples:</p><ol><li>Amazon shopping spree</li><li>Overpaying for a house</li><li>Buying a car that you can’t afford with money you don’t have</li><li>Only paying the minimum on student loans (I’d rather have the cash today)</li></ol><p>Solutions/Takeaways</p><ol><li>Setting goals (long-term goals with check points)</li><li>Tracking progress</li><li>Creating a spending plan</li><li>Giving yourself discretionary spending</li><li>Practice saying no (strengthens neural pathways in the brain)</li><li>Find accountability to ensure you say no</li></ol>